Our experience with ACI was awful. I was disturbed in the intake interview by how classist the…read moreprocess was - despite both my husband and I having advanced degrees, stable careers and strong incomes, and having a very good home study evaluation, it was suggested multiple times by our case manager that because we came from lower class backgrounds we may not have sufficient self-control to be good parents. We were also given a red flag for doing weekly therapy and had to provide letters saying all our 'issues' were resolved - in my opinion, regular therapy is an indication of a proactive commitment to strong mental health and should be a regular part of everyone's life. Moreover, I found the entire process deceptive - before we had paid the first $10k, our case manager was optimistic about our chances of a successful adoption. After we had paid, the process slowed down significantly, and at one point a volunteer with the organization let slip that he had never seen someone in our situation have a successful adoption in decades with the organization. When they asked us for another $7k we decided to leave the program. The people in my community who've had successful adoptions recommend The Cradle.

My husband and I are not what one would consider "strangers" to adoption. Before finding Family…read moreResource Center (FRC), my husband had gone through the process to adopt our son (born to me biologically) and we went on to adopt our first daughter internationally. That said, we wanted very much to add to our family once again, and we found FRC to be the perfect fit for us. One of my favorite attributes of FRC is their dedication to the emotional, psychological, and physical welfare of the first (birth) mother (and first father if applicable, of course). As I am an adoptive mom you'll have to take this with a grain of salt, but I truly believe that FRC offers a pressure-free space in which pregnant women are able to explore the adoption option without the "hard sell". Additionally, FRC offers ongoing counseling to first moms for as long as necessary. These elements were ones which we considered to be vital in our agency selection. Having an amazing social worker can, in my humble opinion, make or break the adoption experience for anyone (first or adoptive parents, that is). We had the privilege of working with Gail McGraw and we found her to be professional, thorough, considerate, and easy to contact (and that's a biggie if you've ever tried to navigate your way through a home study!). Also, she's been in the industry for quite some time and has as much heart and soul as someone fresh out of school. We also spoke with Richard Pearlman, the director of FRC, several times during the adoption of our youngest daughter. I found this to be impressive; I can't think of any other agency in which the director contacts every.single.adoptive.family prior to a placement to introduce himself, get to know the prospective adoptive family, and discuss both the agency itself and the adoption process as a whole. When we had a concern arise, Richard spent several hours on the phone with me--while he was out of the state, mind you--and worked to resolve the situation to the best of his ability. In short, I strongly recommend FRC. We couldn't be more blessed--not only by the inclusion of our "littlest" one to our family, but also due to the amazing extended family we've gained through her open adoption. If you're contemplating adoption but overwhelmed by the agency choices, look no further. You won't find better than Family Resource Center, truly.

There's nothing else I've ever spent so much money on -- and which was so personally and immensely…read moreimportant -- for which the service was so disappointingly and painfully poor. My husband and I were broken by the experience and felt insulted by the way our requests for help and information were handled. We have no interest in ever going through this with acfb again.

We adopted our son through Adoption Center for Family Building. We started with another agency and…read morehad an awful experience with them. Tobi, Maggie and the rest were absolutely wonderful to work with. They were open, honest, encouraging when we had a change of heart with a birth mother. I can't say enough about them We now have the prefect child for us and we couldn't be happier. I would strongly recommend Adoption Center for Family Building for anyone wishing to have a family through adoption.

We adopted a child through Sunny Ridge. We were advised that Holt had taken over a few years after…read more When trying to reach out to ask some questions regarding paperwork, we have gotten years before. We are shifted to another company and have left several messages and nobody has ever returned our call. Very disappointing, especially with everything we invested with this organization. Shame on them for not following up.

The worst place to go for adoption help once they get your money good luck. They will turn their…read morebacks on you. This place has a high employee turn over rate. Go private if possible more work on your part but worth it

The Cradle has an absolutely outstanding staff to help counsel individuals and families through a…read morevariety of adoption decisions. We used them over 15 years ago to help start our family. They have been providing excellent post-adoption services since then and continue to be leaders in the industry. They are also the only adoption agency to have a full time nursery.

I cannot say enough good things about our experience with The Cradle. Start to finish they have…read morebeen incredible. It's no wonder the agency has been around for almost 100 years. They're excellent at what they do. For how hard adoption can be, to have some of that stress lessened by competent professionals who really have the best interest of families in mind has been priceless. Our daughter received excellent care while she was in the Cradle Nursery for the first six weeks of her life before we brought her home. Cradle staff will always be part of our family story and we are so thankful that they were there, and continue to be there, for our baby and her first mother. Our adoption counselor Wendy was a huge comfort during some of the more stressful moments and very adept at guiding us through the process and making sure all our paperwork was in line. From the counselors to the nursery staff to the billing department absolutely every person we came into contact with at this agency was warm, committed to helping and competent. Thank you, Cradle staff for helping bring our family together.

We are so fortunate to have found Adoption Choice! We just finalized our adoption last month and…read moreeach and every member of the staff we met and worked with was friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Beth was welcoming and thorough in answering all of our initial questions. Ocie was always kind and responsive. Our caseworker, Shari, was incredible. In addition to her knowledge and efficiency she was supportive, thorough and caring. We cannot say enough good things about Adoption Choice and we will sing their praises to anyone looking to adopt!

We completed two domestic adoptions with two different agencies. If we were ever to do it again,…read morewe would definitely use Adoption Choice again. We felt very comfortable with our social worker and felt like we had the support we needed throughout the entire process.

We are currently working with Lisa and we got transferred from Across the World Adoption (as they…read morelost their license). Lisa is amazing. She is very responsive, honest and patiently answers our questions. This is a day and night experience from our previous agency. We would highly recommend America World Adoption without any hesitation. Thank you Lisa.. and hope you continue doing this for everyone who is in this adoption Journey. You are truly a pleasure to work with.

We loved working with American World. Our social worker was very kind and caring, yet asked good…read morequestions. They were always on time and never cancelled appointments. We worked with American World in Virginia for our adoption, and working with America World locally for our home studies and home visits allowed things to work seamlessly. We would use AW again without hesitation.

From the very beginning of this journey life long was so supportive and helped us with every step…read morealong the way. We had been with an agency before that really took advantage of us and once we found lifelong we knew we were in the right place. Everyone that worked with us made it seamless and was always available to answer the many questions and situations that arise during the adoption process. We will be eternally grateful to lifelong for giving us our baby girl. Truly the best thing to ever happen to me and my husband.

Everyone has a different experience. Personally, we did not get matched to adopt a child; we didn't…read moreeven get any potential matches. It was crickets the full 2 years. The loan we had to take was $30k and lifelong recommended lightstream, yet it's 13% interest. We still have the $10K to pay, and waited two years for nothing. Currently, my spouse and I are about to begin fostering through DCFS to hopefully adopt. This gives us better chances of adoption. Everyone on staff is polite, yet the overall process isn't always successful. There are much more people wanting to adopt than there is children when it comes to this approach. Good luck to you if you choose this route. We were open to all races, male or female, 0-3 years old and open to an older sibling. still not even a potential match.